Process of generating and utilizing producer-gas.



G.,IVI. S. TAIT. PROCESS OF GENERATING AND UTILIZING PRODUCER GAS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. H. 1910.

1, 175,1 91. Patented Mar. 14,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES A TTOHNE I G. Mf's. TAIT. PROCESS OF GENERATING AND UTILIZING PRODUCER GAS.

AFPLICATIQN FILED JAN- I1, I910.

Patented Mar. 14, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES Liraisr.

. senses? in. s. Tarn-"or mon'rcnam, NEW .rn isEY, Assmnoa 'ro 'rsrr PRODUCER V p COMPANY, 035 NEW YORK, N. Y., ACORPOMTION;OF NEW JERSEY.

1 rnociass or ennnaafzrme Ann UTILIZING rnonncna-eas.

To'all whom it may bacer'n l Beit knownlhat I, GODFREY-M. S. TArr,

- wa subject the li ting of England, and a resident of Montclair, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented-certain' newand usefullmprovements'in the Processof Generating and Utilizing Producer-Gasof which the following is .a full, clear, and exact specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it 'appertains'to make and use the same.

My invention relates .to a process ofi'ge era-ting and utilizing producer gas, particu larly, though in some aspects not necessarily, in connection with gas engine power plants. The object oftheinvention is to increase the effective gasifying action and to produce a gas, from: bituminous coal or mixture of e such coaland hydrocarbon oil comparatively free from. tar and ,similar' unfixed hydro carbons:

"mately equal pressureapplied to the draft I current, thus bringing about a state of balanced pressuresw-ithin the producergreatly facilitating practical operation thereof.

My invention involves varlous other fea-- tures of advantagqthe practical attainment a. f ofyall of which dependsupon certain novelsteps in treatment of the ruel and gas and all of whichwill be fully set forth hereinafter and particularly pointed out 1n the claims, l

i I For. the purpose of. plainly illustrating the practice of my process, reference is madeto the accompanying drawingsv which show .an apparatus designedto carry out the same.

.ln these drawings :-Figure 1 represents 3 an elevational view of the gas producer power; plant iii-which the producer itself 1s showninj'section; 2 illustrates an enlarged sectional view of an-injector which 1 1 .i'nay be employed to-bring about the pressure condition in an. ash pit of the producer as willafully appear hereinafter; and Fig. 3

derstood. i

is {Milan view of such injector.

ltwill first describe he mechanical organir zatjlbn ofthe plant illustrated .in said drawings so that the subsequent description of my g or steam wh ch maybe employed as an auxiliary tp' increase the pressure inthe exhaust improved process may be more readily'un- :s aamraa-or Letters Iatent.

Patented Mar. 1a, rare.

Apphcationiiled January 11, 19 m. Serial No. 537,381.

open at its bottom and -is supported on a series of piers 12 which project inwardfrom the walls 10 of the producer and engage the walls 11 of the coking chamber. The

' top 14 of the producer is provided with a series of poke holes 15 and 16 which allow the interior of the producer both inside and outside of the coking chamber to be reached. The producerishere shown as of what I have termed the balanced draft type, 2'. a, 1n which the ash pit 17 isdesigned to receive a draft current i'inderpressure and in. which an outlet ordischarge 518 is provided through which the gases are drawn off and suction -exerted 1n the gas line l9. The gas line 19 passes to the scrubber-20 and the gas from i the scrubber is discharged by a connection 21 to the purifier22. From there it is conducted, preferably, though not necessarily, under the suction of a four-stroke cycle gas engine, through a pipe 23 to the engine 24. The exhaust from the engine passes through a pipe 25 to an outlet 26 to the atmosphere. A part ofthe exhaust gases is taken oil through a branch connection 26 and led into an injector, the preferred details of which are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Referring to' these figures, 27 indicates a valve to which the. branch connection 26 leads, and 28 indicates a valve controlling communication withthe atmosphere. The valve 27 discharges into an injector nozzle 29 which in turn discharges into the throat'of the injector. 'Said throat communicates with the atmosphere through the valve 28 and the throat discharges into the ash pit of the producer. The pressure of, the exhaust causes the injector action to take place and in this mannersuflicient air is thrown into the ash pit to supply the necessary draft current supporting the combustion in the pro- 'I .ducer and also to supply sufiici'ent pressure in this draft current to'balance the suction at the discharge 18 as will hereinafter fully appear. V 3

In Fig. 1, 31 indicates a jet device for air 50 a gasesfrom the coking chamber. In theen 'gine the gases from the producer are burnedof-thevalves 27 and 28 otthe injector the for practising my line 25; and 32 in said view indicates means for supplying steam or Water to the draft current as an endothermic agent should such be necessary or desirable. indicates a means for supplying a liquid hydrocarbon to the fuel in the'coking' chamber. By means pressures and proportions involved may be regulated as required.

Assuming the use of such an apparatus process the various steps or operations of such process are as follows:

part of the Upon starting theoperation of the producer and the-evolution of heat therein, gas is formed in the: incandescent zonein the lower producer and up to a point at the lower portion-of-the coking chamber,.in accordance with the familiar reactions involved with the chemical combination of carbon and oxygen. This gas passes be-' tween the piers 12 and outof the producer.

Simultaneously theheat in the coking chamber drives off the volatile hydrocardownward through the bon gases of the green coal and these gases, having no outlet at the top, are forced upper portion-of the incandescent fuel zone and out around the -lower edges of the coking chamber. The

' gases thus given off fronrthe green coal are heavy unfixed hydrocarbon gases bearing a large quantity of ,tarry matter. As such -gases pass through the'fire they 'are finely sub-divided in passingthrough this heated c porous material and their hydrocarbon conwith the 'tent isucrack ed'for'fixedby the action of the heat Wheniso'sub-dividedfand the gasesreformas fixed illuminantsand then mingle gases passes out through the scrubber-and purifier'and then to the engine;

inthe absenceof airso that the gases from carbon oil may be supplied With the coal.-

the coking chamber cannot burn. I Inorder to enrich the gas wvlth hydrocarbons, if conditions requiring such enr chment hydro,-

This oil will be vaporized by the heat and "the vapors thus formed will undergo the of such gases going out of the exhaust vent j I to.

' are utilized to draw in the air necessary in same operation' as thatundergone by the to produce'poiver in the manner cl'iaracteristic of the'operations in a four-stroke cycle or other internal combustion engine. Theexhaust'gases froln the engine pass, under pressure, through the pipe 25, some 26 ands comparatively" small proportion of such gasesbeing taken away through the connection 26 .tothe injector. where they the draft current pot "the producer and to sup lythe pressure in the ashpit as, I have exp a med; lt will be seen, therefore, that pressures equalize or balance.

gasesformed in the lowerpart of the producer, 'which'I have described. The mixture of all of the t'med This operation takes place I supply the draft current to the under a pressure 'llKfll is above atmosphci t.- to an extent substantially proportionat to produce r the minus or suction pressure bclcw' atmos-:;

phere in the outlet 18. pressure of the draft current 'at the ash pan is equal to 71-inch water column pressure then the suction in the gas outle. should be equal partial vacuum. This results in establishmg atmospheric pressure within. the producer at a'point where the plus and minus For example, if the about an can vary to .inch water column This allows or inspection striction of opening of these valves causing the point of eq'uallzatlon to be relatively low down in the fuel: bed, and Wider opening of these valves causing the .point of equal- .ization' to be higher up in the fuel" bed. This ability to vary the point offequalization of pressures is lating the action of the producer and it is also desirable to shift the point of equaliza-- very convenient in regution to a point \velldown in the fuel bed.

prelir'rnnary to poking or cleaning the fuel bed; y

The manner in which the pressure in the from the internal combustion engine rene ders the operation of the system entirely automatic and self-regulatl-ng.r

on the engine increased and a correspondingly increased demand for gas occurs, the

18 will, be increased.

suction in the outlet Simultaneously the exhaust pressure of the engine will be. increased so that therefore the pressure rises in the exhaust current correspondingly with the increase in 'suc- As the. load 10o draftcurrent is supplied by the exhaust tion in the outlet 18. As the engine slows down and its operation becomes less vigorous, these conditions will ,be correspondingly altered: the suctlon will-decrease and the force of the pressure draft will also fall.

The exhaust gases are not i'ntroduced'into the producer as an endothermic agent; they are employed purely for the purpose of securinga' means by which pressure may he created in the draft current. For this purpose they'are particularly advantageous because, as I have pointed out; the system be comes self-regulating. If an endothermic i .125

agent is necessary in the draft current, such agent maybe supplied by a steam yet at 31 or other Water stream from which vapor is generated at the The quantit of carbon dioxid introduced curre t in accordance with.

into the drat my process lS1 practically inappreciable. In practice it will fall aslow as l to 13 and rarely rises above-2 to by volume at that temperature whichin a sample cooled to say (50 F.

would show but a trace ofCO. This carbon dioxid content therefore is not present in thedraft current to an extent sufficientto detercombnstion in the fuel bed or 0th erwise to haVeappreciab1e influence on the aper ation of the process.

Having thus r" described -niy' invention,

I What I claimas new andtdesireit'o secure hw'hich comp rises maintaining a bed of in-' candescentfnel of effective gasifying depth,

the producer, distilling hydrocarbon gases-- from the fresh fuel of said fuel bed and causing said evolved gases to p'ass'through the incandetmnt portion of said bed'and to mingle by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

' 1. The processuof' making producer gas:

comprising supply ng fuel and. draft -'current to'a producer and maintainingincomplete combust o'i 51811631011 or rarefied state' at the outlet side aid fuel, and creating of the producer by the suction of a gas engine and a pressure condition at the draft side of the same by the" pressure of the ex haustof said engineand in' regulating such conditions automatically to" cause the said pressures to balance t or equalize at a point within thefuel bed of the producer. I

2.)Ilhe ,ipro'cess-of making producer gas,

supplying air under-pressure greater than that of the atmosphere. to'one side of said fuel bed, and diawing off the, gas producedv from, an intermediate point of said fuel bed, under less. than atmospheric pressure, and thereby CELUSIIIg the pressures to balance o'r; equalize at a point withinthe fuel bed of and be drawn off with the gas formed in said fuel bed by the incomplete combustion of the fuel with theair, Whereby such hy drocarbon gases are drawn off by the suctiorr which draws off the producer gasfand are fixed by their passage through the in i can'descent portion of saidfbcd. I

The process of makingproducer gas, which comprises maintaining a bed of incandescent fuel of effective gasifying depth, supplyingia combustion supporting mediuni; c

to one side of said fuelbed, and drawing'off the gas produced from an intermediate point of said fuel bed, supplying liquid hydrocarbon to a moderately heated portion of saidl'fuel bed, and causing said hydrocarbon in a vaporized form to pass through the incandescent portion ofv said bed and to in said fuel bed by the incompletecombustion ofthe fuel with air, Wherebyfsuch liquid hydrocarbon is converted into a fixed gas and is drairn off with the producer gas. at. The process 13f making producer gas; which comprises maintaining a bed of incan descent fuel .of effective gasifying depth, supplying air under pressure greater. than mingle and be drawn off with the gas formed that of the-atmosphere to one sideofsaid fuel bed, and drawing off the gas produced from an intermediate point of said. fuel bed, under less than atmospheric pressure, and

.thereby causing the pressures to balance or B. 131m, G. U.- UNA,

[a fixed gas and is drawn ofi with the prol 

